The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was first held in 1992. It comprised three races: the men's race, the women's race and the junior men's race. Furthermore, a team competition was held in each category, with the winners being decided by combining the performances of a country's top three finishers. The country with the lowest aggregate time won the team competition. The junior men's race was held in only the first and second editions, and was removed from the programme from 1994 onwards.

†: In 2009, the team from Russia was initially ranked 3rd (3:31:23), but fell behind Japan after the disqualification of Inga Abitova. Her competition results were annulled, beginning October 10, 2009, because of breaking anti-doping regulations.[5][6]